CDC Holdings allots P3.3 B for condo projects

MANILA, Philippines - Real estate developer CDC Holdings Inc. is alloting P3.3 billion over the next three years for the development of three condominium complexes, one of which is ready for turnover in the last quarter of this year.

CDC Holdings founder Elsie Chua said the company would continue to develop properties for the middle class market which is composed of overseas Filipino workers and young professionals , young entrepeneurs, and local businessmen.

She said that despite the current boom of real estate development and the steady inflow of OFW remittances, the end-user segment is safe from the formation of a property bubble for the next five years at least.

“I don’t see a bubble so long as you are in the end-user market and not in the investor market in the next five years,” said Chua.

She said the market for real estate developments for the middle class continues to be robust because of the large population and the strong inflow of OFW remittances, which at the moment is at $24 billion annually.

CDC Holdings is also one of the top three developers availing of financing form the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG). In fact, 90 percent of their buyers avail of Pag-IBIG financing.

“My competitors are bankers. We are not competing with them. So we are a developer which is tapping the Pag-IBIG program for the end-user market,” said Chua.

To rise in the last quarter of this year is the Giraffe Tower, the commercial complex of the existing Lions Park Residences in Paranaque. The complex will stand on 1.5 hectares of land and will contain spaces for grocery and meat stores.

“This is where we will encourage OFWs to put up their business,” Chua said. Rivergreen Residences, in Manila is expected to rise in four years.

The mixed residential and development consists of two towers and 580 units and total lease area of 4,000 square meters.

Chua said a “big” supermarket chain has committed to operate the hypermarket in the community. The commercial area expects to earn P24 million annually.

Total gross sales is expected to reach P1.1 billion.

Sentrale, which will rise in 2015, is a condominium-hotel development in Makati. The development, which consists of 380 units, is expected to fetch P850 million in sales.

Next year, CDC Holdings is also opening new offices in Dubai, Israel and Germany where OFWs “ earn higher than average.” Marketing efforts in these countries will solely be taken by the company and not through partnerships with foreign firms.

This year, the company targets to reap in P2 billion in sales, P500 million of which is expected to be generated overseas and P1.5 billion domestically. Chua said the company currently enjoys a unit turnover of 80 percent.

“People prefer to buy units in developments that are already standing rather than preselling so we have been quietly building condominiums,” said Chua.